Can Cannabis be Used for Mindfulness Meditation?

We live in a world where it’s increasingly difficult to shut out all the ‘noise’ around us. And by noise we don’t mean any type of unpleasant yet temporary auditory experience. The noise we’re talking about here is the constant commotion and hubbub around us, and this has become rather unavoidable for most of us in the 21st century. So, while the constant bombardment of stimuli is indeed unavoidable most of the time, we can engage ourselves in practices like mindfulness meditation to counter these influences.

The appeal of mindfulness meditation, and other spiritual introspection practices like it, is a multi-leveled one. It lets you move past artificial and inherited constructs about the world around us, and evaluate it with a singular, existential perspective that syncs your mind, your body’s central and parasympathetic nervous systems, and your elemental life energy in a very beautiful and rejuvenating way.

Can cannabis be a part of a mindfulness routine, such as meditation? 

Practicing Mindfulness Meditation

First, we'll discuss the basic parameters for mindfulness meditation, and then look at some of the reasons why some people may choose to combine cannabis and meditation.

Awareness of breath is one of the basic principles of mindfulness meditation. By focusing on taking deep breaths, some may find they can reduce mental “noise” and calm the mind. Many people prefer to meditate in sitting position with their logs crossed, although this isn’t mandatory.

Some people may combine cannabis with mindfulness meditation for various reasons. In one study, cannabis was shown to decrease stress reactivity to negative stimuli.¹ As such, some consumers may feel cannabis can help quiet their mind and, in combination with meditation, allow them to focus more on their breath and surroundings.

Other basics for mindfulness meditation include:

• Sitting comfortably – some people like to sit on a pillow. Do whatever feels comfortable for you.
• Straightening your upper body – imagine a string stretching from your head to the sky, pulling your upper back and neck straight up.
• Softening your gaze – it’s important to have relaxed eyes when doing this type of meditation, as this will reduce tension around your eyes and face.
• Resisting - yet accommodating - the wandering mind – this concept may be kind of deep for a lot of people to understand. Really, it’s just about accepting what you can control as far as your mind and focus are concerned, and similarly accepting that you are a work in progress – like most of us – in this regard. You try to prevent your mind from wandering, but be assured that over time you’ll get better at resisting.

Hopefully this is a welcome expansion on your existing knowledge of how to practice mindfulness. The last part of that may be a little heavy for some, but if you choose to try mindful meditation, you’ll likely soon come to see what we mean. Whether you decide to do it after consuming cannabis or not, mindful meditation is a practice that might help you get in touch with your emotions and be more aware of the world around you, so why not give it a try?

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References

1. Cuttler C, Spradlin A, Nusbaum AT, Whitney P, Hinson JM, Mclaughlin RJ. Blunted stress reactivity in chronic cannabis users. Psychopharmacology. 2017;234(15):2299–309.